Art and Music: Introduction

So I was elected by the professors to be a co-leader of the Arts & Music group.  As a lover of all things relating to the arts, I was elated to be able to be such a large part of the Arts & Music Group.  I have grown up around the arts throughout my whole life:

My mom majored in art in college, and her art skills inspired me as a child to be an artist as well.  Since then, I have always enjoyed writing and drawing whenever I have free time and a blank sheet of paper.  I also began playing the violin in third grade, and continued to play it until my sophomore year of high school.  Since then, I have taken an AP Art History class and loved understanding the evolution of art throughout our history.

And that is what our focus is on the arts- the evolution of art with technology over the centuries.

It is clear to most people that technology has a large influence on the arts- whether it be dubstep remixes of songs, graphic design, and new software that can allow someone to be a DJ or an artist.  However, the focus is on how this technology changed how we use our art, and whether this change is for the better, or for worse.

In centuries past, religious and secular leaders, as well as anyone who was of aristocracy would commission artists to paint their portraits so that their beauty would be captured forever on a canvas.  However, this pattern has been diminished to the point where only very few people will pay for a portrait, especially when they can just pay a photographer to take their picture.  In today's culture, there are very few people who can create art on traditional mediums and make enough of a living to be independent.  The American government has cut back on spending to support artists, and soon traditional mediums may disappear from the world forever.

What's replacing these traditional mediums, however, are new technology-driven mediums like CGI, graphic design, and software that allows one to perform art on a computer.  It seems that most people have completely dropped traditional art, and moved on to the art that provides more money and is more technology-driven.  However, this has allowed so many more people to become artists on their own- famous techno artists like Skrillex and Wolfgang Gartner(not so famous maybe) became famous by using software programs on their laptops to create their own music.  Without these programs, they could have never become as famous as they are today.

Is it okay to drop old mediums of art, and move on to the world of technology?